Entries in Financial Stewardship
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What are you believing God for in your life? Is it to own your own home? To get married? To have children? Maybe you know what God has called you to do, but it’s a matter of…well…getting there. While there is a place for waiting on God and His timing and direction, there is something you can do. One way you can see doors open for you is by giving where you want to go. Opened doors are one of the many benefits of becoming a financial partner with a ministry that you trust. You can exercise your faith for direction and open doors through the giving of your finances. Matthew 9:29 says, “According to your faith be it unto you.”

In Andrew’s teaching series Financial Stewardship, one of his messages, “Your Partnership in the Kingdom,” speaks directly to this:

“If you really want to prosper, here’s one way to do it: Find a ministry that is doing something big…bigger than [you]. They’re reaching out. They’re touching other people. This could be a church. It could be a television ministry. It could be a missionary. It could be anything. But [find] somebody who has a big vision that’s going to take a lot of money, and you become a partner with them. And you know how God gets that money to that minister? He sends it to his partners. He sends it to people. So, if you want to prosper, find a ministry that needs a lot of money [and] become a partner with them. God will send that money to you to get it through you to them, and He will prosper you supernaturally.”

What if it’s hard for you to trust God with your finances? I get it! It’s your time and effort wrapped up in a single paycheck. But Luke 16:10 says, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.” So, what this means is that your finances are actually considered a small thing—“that which is least” (emphasis mine). If you’re not where you want to be, don’t stop until you get to God’s perfect will. Jesus has a knack for increasing what you give to Him.

“Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

Luke 6:38

In a way, you’re actually giving yourself to God when you give financially, and this makes a way for Him to multiply you.

So, prayerfully consider becoming a financial partner with a ministry, mission, or person going in the direction you feel a pull toward. Also, if you want to hear more about your partnership in the kingdom, get Andrew’s Financial Stewardshipseries.

Chances are, at some point or another, you’ve heard the question: “If there’s a God, why is there so much evil and injustice in the world?” I found myself in such a conversation with someone not long ago. As is common, the person I was speaking to pointed to world poverty and asked why God doesn’t do something to help the poor.

Although I didn’t say it aloud, I wondered, What does this person expect God to do—rain money down from the clouds? God is a good, loving God. It’s certainly not His will for people to live in poverty and go without having their basic needs met. And, because He’s God and has thought of everything, He already has a plan for meeting the world’s needs. It’s found in Deuteronomy 8:18: “It is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant” (New King James Version).

The covenant that God extended to the world isn’t only spiritual; it also includes material wealth, health, peace, and everything else He has to give. Of all the ways God could “establish His covenant” on the earth, He opted to use us—the body of Christ! What a privilege—and responsibility—we have to partner with Him in ministering to the world’s spiritual and material needs.

In Financial Stewardship, Andrew explains that “prosperity really isn’t for us. It’s so that we can be a blessing. It enables us to bless others.” The problem is that religion has taught the church that prosperity is evil and selfish and that we should avoid it at all costs if we want to be godly. This mindset accepts that poverty equals humility and godliness.

Those who believe this only want enough of God’s blessings to get by. They’re fine with just a little because they don’t want to be selfish. But 2 Corinthians 9:8 says, “God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” God wants us to abound to every good work. We can’t abound in helping others if we’re broke ourselves!

Viewing prosperity from a true biblical perspective, we’re selfish if we’re not abounding, because that means we aren’t able to give to others. According to Andrew’s teaching in Financial Stewardship, we need to start prospering so we can abound to every good work. This is why God wants us to prosper. He wants to bless us so that He can make us a blessing. We can’t bless others if we aren’t blessed.

If every Christian had the right attitude toward prosperity—understanding that prosperity isn’t selfish, but a blessing that God wants to get to us—I believe we could eradicate world hunger and poverty and send the Gospel around the globe. God’s not going to rain money down on people. He’s waiting for us to believe Him for prosperity so we, “having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”

Another year of giving, another year of bumping along in my finances. That pretty much summed up my story when it came to money. Have you been there before?

All my Christian life, I believed what Malachi 3:10 said:

“‘Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,’ Says the Lord of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.’”

New King James Version

According to this, all I had to do was tithe—give just 10 percent of my income—to get that abundant blessing. Sign me up! Who wouldn’t want that? But after I tithed, there was only one problem: I continued to struggle in my finances.

I basically was at the place of having my needs met, but nothing more. What was I doing wrong? Since I didn’t know the answer, I stopped tithing.

If you had asked me, I still would have told you that I trusted God as my source. But I didn’t understand why it wasn’t working. In his Financial Stewardship teaching, Andrew provides commentary on my situation and what I needed:

“The first step to walking in prosperity is to recognize God as your source, and you’re just a steward.”

So, it’s just a matter of recognition?

“The Lord established it that He will supernaturally provide for you if you go to trusting Him in your finances.”

Okay, I’d been doing that. So far, so good.

“[God] wants you to trust Him, and that’s, I believe, the reason that He told us to give a portion. [It] is because this trusts Him. It’s putting first the kingdom of God and His righteousness [Matt. 6:33], and when we do that, everything else is added unto us.”

Ding, ding, ding, ding!

Now, this concept rang my bell! See, when I tithed, I had been trusting my money to bring me more money. When I stopped tithing, I still thought of God as my source, but then there was no proof. Both were wrong. I needed to make God the source of my money by trusting Him with it! As James talks about, “By works faith was made perfect” (James 2:22, NKJV).

Concerning finances, giving literally became the token of my trust in God. Before I would give, I would hold my money in my hand, look at it, and pray, “This money is not my source. God, You’re my source [Matt. 6:24].” Since then, I have prospered just like Andrew said I would. It’s been awesome!

I want to encourage you to make God the source of your finances by trusting Him in your giving. That’s what being a steward is all about. Once God is your source, you will prosper!